Last Week

Last week, I attended a Special Educational Needs (SEN) two-day workshop. On the first day of the workshop, I was notified that Taare Zameen Par was on hold for me — and just in time too! On the whole, I feel that the movie had way too many songs and I wished it focused more on Ishaan's therapy (the workshop didn't explain what sort of therapy was provided for dyslexic, dyscalculic, and dyspraxic children and adults). Ishaan seemed not just dyslexic but also had ADHD and was dyscalculic and dyspraxic.

Anyway, I also finally watched English Vinglish which I'd bought a couple of years ago and never got around to watching (my colleague said it was good and refused to tell me the ending). I liked it a lot and found it very similar to Queen — sheltered Indian woman goes overseas, meets foreign people, a white guy fall in love with her, and goes home to India a changed and somewhat liberated woman. Does this mean Indian women must leave the country to find themselves, realize their individual identity? Ironic then that people go to India to find themselves.

Other titles I watched this week:

My Name is Khan — however much I like SRK, I wish someone else played Khan. Maybe I've seen one too many SRK movies, but I found nothing new in his performance, in how he emotes.

(500) Days of Summer — before I watched it, I was convinced I would love this. I mean, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt? I ADORE THEM BOTH (especially Jessica Day)!!! But the film was just ... underwhelming (I did like the soundtrack a lot though). I also wished Summer didn't get married but I'm really glad she didn't get back together with Hansen.

Need to buy MORE DVDs!! SOON!!!

Inaccessible

The best sort of crush is a crush on someone completely inaccessible to you. It's less painful because you know it's impossible to ever hook up with the one who, in having, will make long hours short (according to the Bard).

That's sooooo much better than pining over someone who passes by you in the corridors so closely you can smell her shampoo, or - worse - someone you hang out with all the time, making her laugh and dreaming of her laughter.

Moar crushes for me, plz!

Sleepwalking

Got a blood test and ultrasound done on Monday to figure out whether or not I have hyperthyroidism (reason #214 not to breed). Until the test results are out and my doc is back from his vacation to explain them to me, he's given me propanol which I keep forgetting to take twice a day. Spent my two days of sick leave on watching and rewatching my new and old Bollywood DVDs, yet somehow still haven't even opened my copy of Ishqiya which I'd bought a few years ago ... Anyway, I won't allow myself to buy Dedh Ishqiya until I've watched the first one.

Going to work is a such drag. I can't sleep at night and spend most — if not the entire — day so tired it feels like I'm sleepwalking or drunk from the lightheadedness (all side effects of propanol apparently). Ugh fuck me, FML.

Finally it's my turn to watch The Lunchbox (this title has such a long queue of requests at my workplace). I yelled, "I WANT A LESS AMBIGUOUS ENDING!", but have since decided the denouement is as good as it gets. The Lunchbox is really, really lovely.

Reads (& Flicks) of the Month: November

Sadly, I've only read one book this month — well, not read, maybe viewed: Celluloid.

But I have watched:

• Queen — will buy it soon!
• Chandni Chowk to China — ugh. The only reason I borrowed this was that it was one of the handful of Hindi titles my library carries and I plan to go through all of them (well, except the ones I already own)
• Barton Fink: interesting — and Adrian and Ambrose together!
• Brazil: it's both horrifying and sad. Now waiting for the day the world decides to go the way of Brazil ... I knew the last bit must've been a dream or Sam's imagination but I could help trying to believe he got to live happily ever after with Jill. Damn it Gillian, why couldn't you make the ending more ambiguous?
• Brave — finally ...
• Barfi! — one of the DVDs I bought yesterday!
• Peter Pan (1953) — I'd only ever seen the 1988 animation when I was a kid. Is it me, or did Disney make the relationship dynamics between Tinklebell and Peter, Tinkerbell and Wendy, and Peter and Wendy, a whole lot of weird? And what's with all that sexual jealousy that all the female inhabitants of Neverland have of Wendy? I honesty never saw that sexual jealousy as a child but now it's pretty much in my face.
• Agent Vinod — to reiterate: NO FUCKING NO NO NO NO NO. Just ... NO.
• The City of Lost Children (currently watching)

Rewarded myself for surviving this shit-hole of a month by buying six DVDs yesterday — three (Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and Jhankaar Beats) to replace the VCD titles and three 'new' titles (Heyy Babyy — why, girl, why did you buy this?! — Barfi!, and Jolly LLB).

Also managed to catch Revolver Rani yesterday on TV. Oh Kangana and Vir Das look kinda cute together! Also, the people (not the actors) behind Agent Vinod should take a cue from Revolver Rani and fucking learn to come up with scene/contextually suitable songs and how to insert the song-and-dance scenes appropriate so the viewer (well, me) won't go WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS so bloody often.

=\

So I just finished Agent Vinod and ... Lawd what a fucking time waster.

When I saw the word "Interval", I was like, interval — only now?!

Whenever the music came, it never made any fucking sense. NO FUCKING SENSE WHATSOEVER.

The bomb with the Rubaiyat as a key of sort — NO.

Bebo's character could carry a fucking conversation with two bullet shots to her fucking liver — what the fucking fuck is that?

The fact is, I saw what must have been a promo pic from Humshakals — this one to be precise:

I thought Khan looked pretty cute in drag — though not as cute (pretty, even!) as Sharman Joshi in Golmaal — but OMG. It's weird because he doesn't look like he has a high body fat percentage, but his thighs look ... well, fat. And no definable quads to speak of (I had larger quads than him when I was still doing aerials) for someone who looks like he must lift or work out.

Bah. Anyway. Agent Vinod — NO FUCKING NO NO NO NO NO. Just ... NO.

Another Bollywood Weekend

Made myself watch Barfi! last night. I've read good reviews of it but avoided it because I know it'll upset my emotional balance.

Actually, I like it a lot so I'm gonna buy the DVD and never watch. it (Well ... maybe just the scenes of Barfi and Jhilmil interacting because those are adorably charming.)

My only complaints:

• the instrumental track (I love Delicatessen and Amelie, and however good Barfi! is, it's not as whimsical as Jeunet's works);
• even if it's a tribute to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Basu should've directed Kapoor to try to be a little more original (wtf is fuck black-and-white life-size cutout of Chaplin doing in the flick? There's no need to bash that reference over your audience's collective heads);
• Shruti looks too young for Barfi (I'd initially thought D'Cruz must be at least a decade younger than Kapoor) which made it a little creepy for me at first;
• it's one of those films that show erroneously that if a guy is unrelenting in his pursuit of a girl, without regard for her lack of feelings for him, he'll eventually wear her down and she'll just give up.

Also caught Hasee Toh Phasee — OMG I <3 Parineeti Chopra!!! She is just utterly, utterly adorable. AND she can act. Jackpot!

Can't wait for next weekend when I'll finally reward myself with a shitload of new movies!

Much Ado About Bollywood

Ever since I read Much Ado About Nothing, I've decide that this comedy will make the fucking best Bollywood flick (second only to Rangeela), and I've been thinking about the casting. So, I'm going with:

Ben & Bea

• Aamir Khan & Urmilla Matondkar (for their awesome chemistry and banter in Rangeela)
• Rahul Bose & Konkana Sen Sharma (my favorite jodi next to Munna & Mili <3)]
• Kajol & Ajay Devgan (not too sure about this. Raju Chacha flopped but apparently U, Me Aur Hum did well? I think Kajol would make a great Beatrice at any rate)
• Sanjay Suri & Juhi Chawla (cuz Jhankaar Beats is my second favorite movie!)
• Vidya Balan & ? (love her — I just don't know who would complement her best)
• Tabu & ?
• Madhuri Dixit & ?
• Rani Mukherji & Abhishek Bachchan (they look and work awesome together)

Claudio & Hero

• Arjun Rampal & Dia Mirza (my first choice since 2003/4! They look so cute together in Deewanapan and Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.)
• Jimmy Shergill & Kangana Ranaut (I wish Jimmy Shergill gets better roles in Hindi films — I don't watch Punjabi films — but here I am imagining him and Kangana not-so-great roles ...)
• Ranbir Kapoor & ? (Katrina Kaif CANNOT act; maybe Sonakshi Sinha or Anushka Sharma? Not so sure about the screen chemistry though)
• Shahid Kapoor & Amrita Rao (?)

Leonato

• Naseeruddin Shah
• Anupam Kher (he made a great Mr Bennett in Bride & Prejudice, so maybe he's a great dad-figure-type)

Don Pedro

• Boman Irani (well, either Don Pedro or in the Dogberry-type role ...)

Don John

• Saif Ali Khan (I think he's evil evil evil — and prolly a great upgrade from Keanu Reeves' Don John)
• Hrithik Roshan

Dogberry + one or two others

• Arshad Warsi
• Sharman Joshi (he does great comedic stuff with both Arshad Warsi in the Golmaal franchise and Madhavan in 3 Idiots)
• Madhavan

And who best to write/direct this than Rajkumar Hirani? Music by A. R. Rahman — of course.

I would watch the fuck out of this movie. Please get it made!

Full Circle

So the other day as I was excitedly compiling a long list of DVDs I'll buy as treat for surviving this godawful November, I came across the synopsis of Salaam Namaste. I realized that movie sorta comes full circle from Kya Kehna - Saif Ali Khan's character finally accepted the baby after being a complete asshole ... and before he gets to be a forever asshole! 

L

After the workshop, as she passed by my front gates (where I was playing with Pumpkin) on her way out, she stopped, and, after a short exchange, she asked for my number. I gave it to her without asking why.

Disappointingly, though, she didn't call. =(

Ah well, it would've been nice to have a new friend ...

Books, Books, Books!

I love ordering from Book Depository - and not just because of free shipping. The books arrive one by one, and I love getting things in the post that aren't bills and other boring shit.

The first of my order to arrive was Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller. Then, when I got from class last night, the rest of my order - Lang Leav's Love & Misadventure and Dave McKean's Celluloid!

Joy, joy, joy!¡!

In Times of Stress ...

INDULGE IN BOLLYWOOD!

So, the last time I had multiple deadlines all at the same time, I escaped by reading. this time it's my old love, Bollywood movies.

Also, my The World Before Her DVD from the Kickstarter I supported arrived! The Hindu fundamentalist camp is horrible, and the girl who is thankful her father let her live even though she was a girl-child is horrifying.

I also recently caught Queen which I really like — OMG Kangana Ranaut as Rani is soooooooo adorable!

Today, I also attended a modern calligraphy workshop which was really nice (I have terrible handwriting)! Can't wait to go to the next level workshop!

Read(s) of the Month: October

• Robert Galbraith's The Silkworm — will read again!
• Amanda Grange's Mr Darcy's Diary — yeah ... no. I love Pride and Prejudice but Grange's Darcy falls a little flat for me.
• Yasutaka Tsutsui's Paprika — book on which one of my favorite films is based! I think Atsuko in the film is actually quite different from Atsuko in the book. The book has a lot more details going on in the narrative too. I suspect if I'd read the book without watching the movie, I'd've been quite lost. Satoshi Kon made Paprika really, really awesome. And how much of a genius is Kon? Tony Zhou's fantastic video essay is a great place to start!

Ink ... or Something

Back in 2008, at the end of every quarter I'd treat myself to something. I ended up with two navel piercings (one above, one below), one lower navel microdermal (on the keloid left by the lower navel piercing), one sternum piercing, and a blacklight tattoo. And I haven't had anything done since ...

I've been itching for a new ink but lack ideas - until now (desperate times). I decided on:

1) "Not here, you're where I stand, hearing the sea, crazy for the shore, seeing the moon ache and fret for the earth." [Top of the fern]

2) A geometric stencil & watercolor pair of Betta fish [one above each elbow, in opposite directions]

3) My 'Hope' verse OR last stanza of Pope's 'Ode on Solitude' - or both! [inside of left forearm; side of ribs]

4) I also want something on nape, prolly a dragonfly

5) Doggie's fore paws prints [where she usually hits me when I lock the gate]

I honestly CANNOT wait to get something done. It beats cutting myself in my books - though to each her own ...

Some Things

Some things that make you sad will always make you sad, I guess. It's days like these that make me believe that happiness is transient, elusive, and unreal - the dream within a dream.

Being sad is slightly more real. Well ... at least it's familiar grounds.